I’ve thought of about a million different ways to explain why intermittent fasting works well for women, but the best way I can come up with is a fictional story:

Janet and Kevin met when they were in college.

Kevin, 6’2” and 205 pounds, wasn’t an “athlete,” but he worked out regularly and maintained a muscular build for his height.

Janet, 5’6” and 135 pounds, was involved in plenty of sports when she was a child. She was active in sports ranging from field hockey to soccer, and from swimming to dance, and, as a result, she had a “fit” and athletic build that made other women her age jealous.

Janet didn’t have problems with her weight during college. By her senior year, her weight hovered around 140 pounds, but, for the most part, she had it under control.

Then Janet and Kevin got married.

They both lived busy lives, trying to balance their new careers with something resembling a social life. As a result, Kevin and Janet ate out 2 or 3 times a week. At home, Kevin cooked relatively healthy meals, and they almost always ate breakfast and dinner together.

After 4 years of marriage, Kevin still weight about 205 pounds. He had lost some muscle and was a little “softer” around the stomach, but not much had changed.

Janet, on the other hand, hated her body.

Her once-athletic build could only be described as “thick.” She spent a lot of time stressing about what she ate, how much protein she ate, and how many carbs she ate. She always took her fish oil pills. It was a never-ending battle to keep her weight below the dreaded 160 pound mark.

When work became stressful, she could easily find herself drifting into the mid-160s.

A few days after Thanksgiving last year, she hit the breaking point. She weighed herself before bedtime, and learned that she had reached 170 pounds. This devastated Janet, and she couldn’t understand why it was happening.

She had joined a gym and was going on nightly walks with Kevin, but nothing was working. Her friends said she could be eating too much sugar, but, for the most part, her meals with Kevin were very healthy.

She finally decided her metabolism simply must have slowed down. Maybe it was the stress at work, or maybe it was a hormonal thing she had inherited from her mother.

The truth?

Janet was gaining weight because she was eating too much. More specifically, she gained weight because she was eating the same serving sizes that Kevin ate.

Since Kevin was maintaining a weight of around 200 pounds and was as active as Janet, Janet was eating enough food to maintain a weight of 200 pounds!

In restaurants, Kevin didn’t order a “big guy” serving size while Janet ordered the “slim girl” size. Both plates were identical. When Kevin made healthy omelets, he didn’t make one for himself and half of one for Janet.

This is the plight of women.

Most restaurant serving sizes are too large for the average man, which means they’re entirely too large for a woman who is 4 inches shorter and 40-60 pounds lighter. And, for the most part, when we cook at home, we don’t “downsize” portion sizes for the smaller person.

Intermittent fasting works well for many women because it gives them a chance to play a little catch up – or, more correctly, to play a little “fall behind.”

Women can eat in a restaurant without having to leave part of their meal on their plate. And women can eat at home without cutting their chicken breasts in half.

“How much weight will I lose with Eat Stop Eat?” I am asked that question often.

You can find my answer to this question in the FAQ section at the end of Eat Stop Eat, but I will also answer it here:

You should be able to consistently lose one to two pounds per week when you follow the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle.

Many people report that they have lost as many as seven pound per week by following the program, but these are exceptions.

Some people lose three or four pounds per week during the first couple weeks of the lifestyle, but this is mostly due to the loss of inflammation, excess water, and some fat mass.

While some people do lose an impressive amount of pounds during the first couple months of following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle, don’t be fooled into thinking that the program is a starvation or a crash diet.

Eat Stop Eat is designed to create sustainable weight loss. Strive for long-term weight loss success, and look for trends in your weight losses and gains. (Remember that your weight can fluctuate by as much as two or three pounds in just one day.)

I have a very complex list of things you must do if you want to lose weight and eat healthy:

1. Eat the foods you enjoy, but eat less of them.

2. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.

3. Most importantly, stop stressing about what you eat.

If you can follow these simple guidelines, then, in my opinion, you’re eating perfectly.

Of course it’s important to eat “real food” over food-like substances. But if you’re eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, you’re already doing this.

I could also advise you to avoid flavoring your food with salt and sugar. But if you’re eating a lot of herbs and spices, you’re already doing this, too.

Finally, we could talk about the importance of having a healthy relationship with the foods you eat. A lot of overeating and obsessive/compulsive eating that takes place today is a result of unhealthy relationships with food. But if you’re enjoying the foods you eat and are not stressing about what you eat, you’re already avoiding this problem, too.

Simplicity is always the goal with the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle. That’s why simple guidelines are all you need in order to maintain healthy eating habits.

Clinical research also shows that a more pronounced reduction in subcutaneous adiposity (the fat just under the skin) occurs when high intensity interval training programs are utilized rather than traditional endurance training programs (Tremblay et al, 1994).

Exercise regimes such as the Tabata protocols were designed by Japanese sports scientists to condition athletes using interval training. Their research showed that “high-intensity intermittent training may improve both anaerobic and aerobic energy supplying systems significantly.” (Tabata et al, 1996).

Interval training, however, is a highly demanding exercise program, which could be too stressful for many individuals. Most experts agree that low intensity, long-duration exercise is preferable for the general public because it “results in a greater total fat oxidation than does moderate intensity exercise.” (Thompson et al, 1998).

Successful weight loss begins with a change in your diet. Next, follow a resistance training program to maintain muscle mass. When you begin following a weight loss lifestyle like Eat Stop Eat, try adding interval training exercises to your routine.

For your physical and mental health, you should also include traditional long, slow cardio exercises, like walking, as part of your fitness program.

My advice is as follows – Eat to lose weight and exercise to maintain or build your muscles. If you have extra time, try interval training or traditional walking to see if you can lose even more weight. If you do, that’s an added bonus. If you don’t, don’t be afraid to stop interval training and try something else.